Self-stabilizing airship



April 12; 1932 W. V. N. POWELSON. ET AL SELF STABILIZING AIRSHIP briginal Filed Sept! 6, 1921 I lf H w? f y 3 fi 3m; WWW fi rim a ZPatented Apr. l2,i 1932 umrno STATES PATENT orricg winrnrn v, N.rownnson, on NEW yonxg mva AND WARREN sen BERNARDINQ; CALIFORNIA,

TBAVELL, or

sELF-sTABILIzrnei AIn'sHI'r fl Original application filed September a,1921, Serial No. 498,605; mviaa ahauus application filed ara 17,

1931. Serial This inventionpertains to self-stabilizing airships. Moreparticularly/it pertains to an airship of the lightersthan-air variety 1n which provision is made for automatic I stabilization of the ship inresponse to deviations from a predetermined normal posture. One featureof the invention comprises stabilization,; rapidly and efliciently, by

- means of compressed air.' I

Hitherto, air ships "have not employed stabilizing means, although theiradvantages have been numerous and obvious, this because thestabilization means hithertoknown have been cumbersome and heavy. Thepresent invention makes possible stabilization by simple apparatushaving comparatively little weight and functioning automatically withoutappreciable lag. I One object of the inventionto stabilize an airship inflight in a simple and eficient way-is thereby attained. In theaccompanying drawings, forming apart hereof: V V f Figure 1 is asideelevation ofan airship having a system of stabilizing in which bal-' 5last is shifted'under automatic control;

Figure 2iis a .side elevation on a larger scale of one of the ballasttanks; I Figure 3 is a side elevation also onalarger scale of a motordriven air compressor with i ta11k; v

Figure 4 is. an end view of theactuatingmember, with air valve; r 1

V Figure 5 is a sectional view of the actuating-member, on line .55 ofFigure 4;

Figure 6 is a sectional viewof the air valve online 6 6 of Figure 4; and

' Figure 7 is a sectional view of the same on a line 77'ofFigure 6. o IThe several figures of the drawings-show apparatus for stabilizing theairship by shifting liquid, which may be liquid fuel, under automatic"control. The tanks and 36 are connectedto each other by pipe 37 for theflow of liquid and by air pipes 171 and 17 4 tot-he air valve 17 2; Fromthis latter, pipe 176 is an outlet, and pipe 173 runs between the airvalve and the compressed air tank 186; Con- .veniently located andconnected with this tank is, the compressor 184 driven by motor 185. Thepipe lines are equipped withl suit- No. 523,248. g I

able cut-oft valves 182' and check valves 181. A heav'y'actuatingmember17 9 swings freely in the vertical longitudinal plane of the airshipfrom the shaft 180 to which is also',

fastened the rotor 175 ofthe valve 172., Thefapparatus is simple in itsoperation andneeds little explanation. When the bow of the airship'isdepressed for any reason, the

su'pportingframe 177 swings tothe left' as regards the actuating-member,which remains vertical. Referring to Figure 6, the outer valve piece1721-otates'in aic'lockwise direction, permitting compressed air to passfrom the port 173 to :pipe 174' and thence to tank 36;butibeforethis-passage of air takes place; the valve makes a connectionbetween pipe 171 andthe exhaust 176, thus permitting compr'ess'ed'a'into escape from tank:35'.

The entrance o fair. into tank 36 and thev escape of air from tank35"causes-liquid to flow fromitank 36yto tank 35 throughtheoconinecting, pipe 37, thus shifting weight from i.

the bow to the stern and producing a stabilizirig'! efiect. The reverseof this operation takes place when the stern end ofthje airshipisdepressed. These port and exhaust openlngs'are connectedsothat thesizeof the'o en i it ing for passage of air varies with the ampli tudeof the swing ofqthe actuating-member. Accordingly the greater thedivergence of the airship from its; normal positiom'theflquicker willbeth'e action' of the stabilizer toward re"- storing-it to itsnormal'iposition. Thediamond-shaped-port in the rotor 175, seenin Figure1, makes this possible.

Obviously modifications may be made from' time to time without departingfrom the inventive thought. Thus it. is possible to em-. 7 ploy in placeof actuatingmember 179 equivalent apparatus serving to control thecompressed .air system. Obviouslyanother gas may be employed in place ofthe. compressed air, although the latter is cheap and entirely suitable.In the, preferred'speciesof the invention the tanks 35, 36are located toward the extreme ends of the airship, but any position on oppositesidesof a plane passing transversely through the center of the air- 7 jship will tend to produce the same result. The subject matter of thisapplication has been divided out of our copending application 498,605,filed September 6, 1921 for Airships. It is intended that the patent tobe based on the present application shall cover, by suitable expressionin the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty arecontained in the species herein set forth of the eneric inventiontherein disclosed.

A though the invention is herein described as it may be particularlyapplied to an airship, it is obvious that it is applicable broadly andwith equal effect to any ship wholly immersed in a fluid medium, as, forexample, a submarine.

We claim:

1. In equipment for stabilizing a bouyant ship wholly immersed in afluid medium, the combination with a liquid fuel supply system of theship of means for automatically transferring liquid fuel from one toanother of the various tanks of said system, said tanks being located indiffering relation to a medial plane of the ship, whereby the saidtransfer alters the angle at which the ship tends to come to rest; saidtransfer means comprising a system of pipes connecting the varioustanks, a supply of compressed air, suitable tanks, piping, and valvestherefor, and an automatic control actuated by changes in the relativeelevation of two of the parts thereof.

2. In equipment for stabilizing a bouyant ship immersed in a fluid, thecombination of two tanks for liquid attached to said ship, located indiffering relations to a medial plane of the ship, whereby liquid flowfrom one to the other alters the angle at which the ship tends to cometo rest; piping connection for said flow; liquid therein; a supply ofcompressed air and piping connections for it to control the liquid flow;and an automatic valve actuated by tipping of the ship and having a portWith diverging sides whereby the area of valve opening is graduated toincrease faster than its linear extent of opening increases with thetipping of the ship.

Signed at San Bernardino, California, this eleventh day of November,1930.

WILFRID V. N. POWELSON. WARREN TRAVELL.

